Should I go for a 2012??

Hello all, new to the forum and getting ready to purchase a Leaf. My question to you is I found a 2012 Leaf SL with 11k miles and 11 bars and in really nice condition. Should I forget it and look for a used with 12 bars? I live in Colorado and my roundtrip commute will be 58-60 miles. Any insight to this would be very helpful.

Thanks!

If you live in Colorado you'll want a 2013 or later SV or SL, because of the heat pump. The power-hungry resistive heater of the Leaf S, or any 2011/2012 Leaf, will use up too much power for your commute.

For that commute in that climate, you really should look into a 2016 or 2017 with the 30 kWH battery.

At this point there should only be two scenarios for people looking to buy a 11/12:

a) you are an old granny who only drives to church on Sundays and the store once a week 2 miles away

b) you have a cunning plan to lose 4 bars and get a brand new Lizard pack installed under warranty

dlbrtj6 said:

I live in Colorado and my roundtrip commute will be 58-60 miles.

Click to expand...

Do you have destination charging at work, or will you need to do the return trip on one charge?

Aussie said:

dlbrtj6 said:

I live in Colorado and my roundtrip commute will be 58-60 miles.

Click to expand...

Do you have destination charging at work, or will you need to do the return trip on one charge?

Click to expand...

Yep. This is a VERY important question. Also, how much city vs. highway?

OP, can you update your location info via your user name in the upper right > User Control Panel > Profile tab? That way, we don't need to ask in future posts/threads or do sleuthing to deduce it.

AS of now, charging will be done at home. Work does not have charging yet. My driving will be city and some hwy. Max speed on hwy is 65.

I have a 2011 with 12 bars (new lizard battery installed March '15) and drive a mix of city and highway. Over the last 12 months my miles/kwh has averaged 4.0. It goes up in shoulder and summer seasons (approx 4.2) and drops in winter (with heater use, I estimate around 3.7). I drive smoothly and almost exclusively use regenerative braking, but I also drive at 75 where the limit is 75 (some others on the forum will stick to 55 for efficiency) and my tires are only at 34PSI (others have them at 40 for efficiency). You could definitely drive more efficiently than me if you needed to, but I should be a reasonable benchmark for real world driving.

Making the assumption of 4.0 miles/kWh, you would require 60/4=15kWh just to make your commute. Nameplate battery capacity is 24kWh, but even a brand new battery only has usable capacity of around 22kWh. An 11 bar would be around 80% of this, so 17.6kWh. 17.6-15 = 2.6kWh which may or may not be too close depending on your tolerance for range anxiety. Moderate heater use in the 2012 (this has a resistive heater) could easily average 2kW which will consume 2kWh per hour of driving. This would push you down to almost zero margin.

In extreme cold the battery capacity is reduced a little (I am unsure of percentages). This cold effect is not permanent, and you can minimize it by timing charging to end just before you leave. Do you need to drive in snow? This apparently requires more energy due to overcoming snow friction (not something I experience in Dallas).

Is your commute flat or up/downhill. If there are elevation changes, do you initially start driving uphill or downhill when you leave your home? Is the start of your trip city or highway driving? If highway, is it in traffic or free-flowing? Regeneration is heavily limited when the battery is full, so if the start of your commute is downhill, city or stop & go traffic you will be using friction braking, which will burn a couple of miles of range.

You seem to be right on the limits of the range sweet spot. If you can eek out your commute you will get awesome gas savings. Some options to make this more comfortable for you:
-Consider a 2016 SV or SL with 30kW battery.
-Consider a 2013+ SL or SV car (which has the much more efficient heat pump heater). You would want a 12 bar (min 85% battery capacity).
-Can you get L1 (120V) charging at work for a couple of hours, particularly in the winter? Maybe check with the maintenance guy if they have any service receptacles anywhere near a carpark.
-Is there a L3 (DCQC) charging station on the commute home in case you need to grab a couple of minutes charge in case of emergencies or perhaps on extremely cold days?

I assume you've become familiar with leafspy from reading this forum?

Good luck. Feel free to ask as many questions as you need. The leaf is a great car, but I'd hate for you to suffer range anxiety it if doesn't meet your needs. Perhaps rent one for a couple of days (there are a few on Turo if you are in Denver, see https://turo.com/rentals/cars/co/aurora/nissan-leaf/230125) and test drive the route.

i have the very same model 2012 SL. You will not make it. the trip is too far. During the winters you'll be lucky (with low heater use) to get 40 miles.

If you have guaranteed charging at work.. it might be possible. otherwise no.. except on dry days in the summer with no freeway speeds and little traffic stops.